Liberals’ anti-poverty strategy a good start, but we’re a long way from world leadership

By David CraneAug. 27, 2018

Canada currently sits in the middle of the pack among OECD countries in terms of poverty and income inequality.

Families and Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos announced a plan last week to slash the number of people living in poverty by one-fifth by 2020—assuming his government is re-elected. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

TORONTO—Jean-Yves Duclos, the minister of Families, Children and Social Development, has set out an ambitious anti-poverty agenda for Canada. It’s called Opportunity for All: Canada’s First Poverty Reduction Strategy, and aims to cut the number of Canadians living in poverty by 20 per cent by 2020—compared to 2015—and by 50 per cent by 2030. All of this is to be enshrined in a Poverty Reduction Act, which has yet to be introduced, debated and passed and which must also be approved by an unelected and unaccountable Senate.

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The Liberals will be under attack from all sides in the next election campaign, but Liberals say they have a good story to tell and some say they need to sharpen up their communications strategy before it's too late.